Swansea Astronomical Society Blog

Friday, March 20, 2015

Partial solar eclipse from the National Waterfront Museum, Swansea and an evening Star party

A static tripod mounted Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ72 bridge camera at 60x optical zoom, fitted with a Baader solar filter, was used to image the partial eclipse of the Sun. The camera was set to burst mode, ISO-100 and 1/800s exposure at f/5.9. Images were captured in bursts of three. Batches of 10 images were stacked in Registax. Click on an image to get a larger view:

Image below taken with a compact camera with a solar viewer held in front of the lens

Steve WainwrightA Nikon D50 DSLR, modified by having the IR cut filter removed was attached to a Solarmax 60 ll, BF 15 H-alpha scope mounted on a driven equatorial mount. Below is a preliminary processed image captured at maximum eclipse:Notice the prominences visible on the limb of the Sun.

Nicola MackinImages of the progression of the eclipse taken by staff and pupils at Newton Primary School

Jo Rosney LeeThe National Waterfront Museum hosted an eclipse breakfast for members of the public. The event was attended to capacity. Members of the Swansea Astronomical Society showed visitors safe ways of viewing the Sun and photographing the Sun:

Projecting the Sun

Pinhole Projection

Smartphone afocal image through a H-alpha scope

Photographing the Sun

Using special, safe solar binoculars

School children

Sculptor and artist Chris Williams put on an exhibition of astronomical art at the event in the morning and evening: